Friday, August 5, 2011

Colombia is full of Power-Assisted/ Electric Bicycles

As I traveled to Colombia in July of this year I started noticing that many of the bicycles sharing the road with the automobiles were going to fast for a bicycle; yet the bicyclist didn't seem to be pedaling with much effort. It's then when I noticed a little something that looked like a motor. Sure enough... many of those are now equiped with a small gas-powered motor that assists the crank. There are so many electric and motor bicycles now on the roads of Colombia and every other country that I am starting to hear of new regulations for those on bike trails. A motor-assisted bicycle can reach speeds of up to 45mph or 72Kmph on a flat road. This is a considerable speed for any person traveling without the protection of a seatbelt, windshield, fenders, etc. In my opinion a bicycle that can reach such speed and shares the same roads with automobiles should be considered a motorcycle and should be regulated accordingly. Not only should it be regulated for the sake of the driver, but for the benefit of pedestrians.

What do you guys think?
On the Streets of Bogotá - Colombia

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Flying Pigeon

I found this video/webpage on Copenhagenize and thought it was interesting that it is more complete and more friendly than the only semiwebsite that shows any flying pigeons in the United States. If you go to the page theflyingpigeon.com you will see that they are located in British Columbia, Canada.

The Flying Pigeon Bicycle from yulu canada on Vimeo.

For being such an Icon, there are certainly not many shops in the entire North America and there are virtually no websites that display information about the Flying Pigeon. The only one in the U.S. is not dedicated to this iconic bicycle, but marely a bike shop that lists some bikes for sale.